SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The Bush administration can go ahead with a
pilot program to allow as many as 100 Mexican trucking companies
to freely haul their cargo anywhere within the U.S. for the next
year, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request made by
the Teamsters union, the Sierra Club and the nonprofit Public
Citizen to halt the program.

The appeals court ruled the groups have not satisfied the legal
requirements to immediately stop what the government is calling
a "demonstration project," but can continue to argue their case.

The trucking program is scheduled to begin Thursday.

In court papers filed earlier this week, the Teamsters and
Sierra Club argued there won't be enough oversight of the
drivers coming into the U.S. from Mexico.

They also argued that public safety would be endangered in a
hasty attempt by the government to comply with parts of the
North American Free Trade Agreement.

The trade agreement requires that all roads in the United
States, Mexico and Canada to be opened to carriers from all
three countries.

Canadian trucking companies have full access to U.S. roads, but
Mexican trucks can only travel about 20 miles inside the country
at certain border crossings such as ones in San Diego and El
Paso, Texas.

Response to American Trucking Associations, Inc.'s Request for
...
(See Business Review Letter issued to American Trucking
Associations on November 15, 2002.) The ATA later finalized and
published on its website, ...
http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/busreview/217742.htm - 9k -
Cached - Similar pages - Note this